I’m 31: This is Why I Relate to Belly

I'm 31: Here's Why I Relate to Belly Conklin

I haven’t read The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP) books, but I’ve been watching the television series pretty religiously these days. That’s not how it started. At first, I rolled my eyes at the idea of succumbing to another teen love triangle. Hadn’t I seen this before? Maybe—but not this specific story. Now, I wake up every Wednesday like it’s Christmas morning.

Initially, I tuned in to keep up with the buzz on social media. As a marketer, I figured I should know what people were talking about. But in 2025, at 31, it truly is the summer I turned onto TSITP.

Season 1 was cute at first. A fun, easy watch. I thought: this must be Gen Z’s Dawson’s Creek. But as the seasons went on, I found myself more deeply invested. I started relating to Conrad more than I’d like to admit. Sometimes Belly. Rarely Jere.

I started yapping on Threads with anyone who would listen and theorize with me. Who is the better option? What would these characters talk about in therapy? How will it all end?

When I was a teenage girl, I avoided dating. I never understood how you could date someone when you had so few freedoms. Pursuing love felt like pursuing freedom, and since I was on a tight leash, it didn’t make sense. I was a child. It felt disconnected. Maybe that’s the neurodivergent part of me. I also feared letting someone get close enough to interrupt my life plan and dreams. I wasn’t going to let anyone stand in the way of me getting to New York. I also felt like a burden because of my chronic illness but that’s another story…

Belly, on the other hand, never seemed to doubt it—love, I mean. She grew up being told she was destined to be with two boys, brothers at that. When I first started watching, it felt obvious that Conrad was the only real option. That kind of intense love that only exists through infatuation. I remember that feeling, even if I avoided meaningful connections. I had a crush on a boy for many years who I delusionally expected to marry one day. We barely spoke. Keeping him at a distance kept him as a dream. Reality is much more complicated. He was also several years older than me, which feels like decades in high school.

I’m nothing like the person I was back then, and I’m glad I waited to find someone to share life with. I don’t think being with anyone I knew in high school would have ended well. That has less to do with them and more to do with my own inner conflict and big goals. I couldn’t imagine a “we” before I found “me.”

Belly seems to have grown up believing love was her only destiny. While I think the pursuit of love is beautiful, it shouldn’t be the only pursuit. Laurel said it best: there’s so much to see.

The longer the series went on, the more I found myself relating to Belly for different reasons. I couldn’t relate to her exact circumstances, but I could relate to the pain of growing up. The difficulty of communicating. The guilt of unintentionally hurting people. The fear of expressing myself honestly.

Belly is human. She’s not a caricature or just a young girl. She reflects the messiness of that age—filled with passion, confusion, and loyalty. In the most recent episode, one shift in particular stood out. She finally seemed to put loyalty to herself first. And that’s essential. You can’t give anything meaningful to others if you’re not taking care of yourself. You can’t be honest with others if you’re not honest with yourself.

This last episode felt like a new show. A reset. The kind Belly didn’t know she needed—or maybe, deep down, she did. Belly represents something many women in their 30s understand. We’re all living life for the first time, learning different lessons at different moments. Rediscovering parts of ourselves we thought were lost.

It’s easy to judge a character like Belly on screen. But she’s still a child. I say that with love. I look back at my 21-year-old self and think about all the things I wasn’t ready for. Your frontal lobe doesn’t fully develop until 27. Adulthood hits hard.

Falling on your face is normal. How you get back up matters. You won’t always get it right. But learning to try again, with more awareness, makes all the difference. The more you try, the more you will fail. But you will also succeed!

I’ve been harsh on Belly, but that’s because I’m sometimes harsh on my younger self. “I should’ve known better” still echoes in my head. But how could I have? We often need to learn through experience. No matter how many warnings we get, the lesson doesn’t land until it’s ours. No one else’s rebellion or failures can replace the ones we experience ourselves. The saying “you have to grow through what you go through” feels poignant here.

And I think we’re about to see Belly find home within herself. I wish that for anyone trying to figure out who they are. If I’ve learned anything from 21 to 31, it’s that we’re never done learning. If we’re evolving, our identities will evolve too. Staying true to ourselves means following our instincts, even when they lead us somewhere new.

And while I selfishly hope Belly’s gut leads her to Conrad—because I love a “you belong with me” moment—practically, if she were my friend, I’d tell her to find more of herself first. If it’s meant to be, they’ll find their season.

It was never summer.